Flow Time to Touch Time is a Great Measure of WIP Inventory Organizations unlock tremendous waste by focusing on the flow of value in delivering their product or service. Velocity in the flow of your product or service to the customer is a key ingredient to reducing cost.  Great companies seek to have the Flow […]

The First Step in Productivity is Availability  Unlocking the value in your organization requires a close look at the relationship between the value your organization creates (output) and the resources required to create it (input). Many organizations measure this relationship using a ratio called Overall Equipment Effectiveness. Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) is a term coined […]

Bigger AIN’T Better! Lean operating systems strive for an ideal of producing one-by-one, defect free, and on-demand. There are two huge reasons why larger and larger equipment are a barrier to that ideal:  the customer doesn’t need it all at once and the risk is too high. The Customer Doesn’t Need It All at Once  […]

The #1 Benefit of Frequent Changeover No One Thinks About Lean operating systems recognize that frequent changeovers are any operation’s secret weapon.  There are two obvious advantages of frequent changeover: reduced work-in-process inventory and shorter lead-time.  However, one benefit greater than both of these is often overlooked. Reduced Work-in-Process Inventory  Airlines compensate for their oversized […]

Does Your Business Value Flow?  It should! Lean operating systems unlock the value in business by working hard to flow the creation of value in every process.  Two powerful benefits arise from creating well-designed flow:  outcomes become predictable and problems have nowhere to hide. Outcomes Become More Predictable  It is easy to think of traffic […]